Add More GB to your iPod Mini

My sister received the new Nano for her birthday, I was left with the 2nd gen, and her old mini lie in her room collecting dust!

She received a new iPod because her Mini was acting up, not charging, and pretty much not functioning at all. I decided to take matters into my own hands to fix that sucker. At first I thought it was a battery problem, so I tried to replace the battery, but that worked to no avail.

So, I thought up the crazy plan of taking my Dell DJ (broken screen) micro drive , and replace it with the 4GB one that she had in her Mini.

So this Instructable is teaching you how to open your iPod, and replace the micro drive with a better micro drive, and in my case, it added an extra GB to the iPod Mini.

If you finish this Instructable, go to my continuation: http://www.instructables.com/id/Microdrive-Madness-15-solution-for-your-extra-mi/

So here we go!

• One tip, when you take off the top of your iPod, use an adults help like I did, because they can help you pry the top off. I had my dad help me, and it worked great!

Step 1 Materials

Here is what you need to complete this job:

• iPod Mini
• Flat-head Screwdriver
• iTunes
• Mac/PC
• Any other micro drive that can fit into the pins that the old micro drive fit in to.

That is it!

Comments

[nrowe46]

My iPod mini will not restore so I'm very interested to do this mod. I ned to know exactly what kind of flash drive I need to get. I have a second generation iPod. I have tried to reset it many times and have rebooted dozens of times.

[struckbyanarrow]

got a mini at a yard sale for 4 bucks now i wanna hack it!

[olibelson]

Absolute genius, worked a treat. Very exciting. 1st generation 4GB mini is now a 1st generation 8GB mini. Brilliant instructable. I love my mini.

[Weed151]

I have a 2gb Ipod Nano 2nd Generation, and I was wondering if this would work with it, because you're using an Ipod Mini. Thanks, Please Reply

[resophonic]

Pretty Sweet! My sister's iPod mini is doing the same stuff, so when she gets her nano, I am totally going to gigafy it!

[ukcuf]

Lol it sounds like taking your sister's ipod is the modern equivalent of taking your sister's dolls and attaching paper parachutes to them and throwing them out the window. (I wish I had a sister :S lol)

[Austinjb555]

No, you do NOT wish you had a sister! trust me!

[led235]

i bet she was happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! XD lol

[theatre_tech_guru]

I strapped my sisters barbies to model rockets and launched them

[rocketman221]

awsome!

[resophonic]

Ooh! Nice one.

[Brennn10]

Thats the spirit!

[Doctor What]

no, you don't wish you had a sister, they are demons. in fact, their true forms live deep within the impossible planet orbiting a black hole. the vases need to be destroyed.

[pagangod]

lol

[Modernbenoni]

I'm guessing you're a teenager... And as I am one also, I agree with you completely...

[IW5 Industries]

same here..

[evanwehrer]

my is a demon also

[sergentslaughter]

fLIPPIN sWEET!

[alston]

Is there any other electronic device anyone knows of that carries that is under 30 dollars? and fits the "pins" of a Ipod nano?

[Yerboogieman]

now how to replace an LCD screen on an MP4 Player

[Derin]

very ironic solution: buy a new one desolder both screens solder on the new screen trash the new mp4 player

[ppatidar07]

hey this is a great mod and i have an old dell dj as well. I want to try this out but i have i believe a 2nd or 3rd gen Ipod Nano, one that is thin but rectangular with rounded off edges. Will it still work this type of Ipod?

[thefunktopus]

Is your siter called Rena? Do I get a prize for picking up on that fact? No? Damn.

[Brennn10]

No, I don't have a sister. Why?

[thefunktopus]

My sister received the new Nano for her birthday, I was left with the 2nd gen, and her old mini lie in her room collecting dust! Are you sure?

[Brennn10]

Lol, yea I see. You saw my sister's name where it says the name of her iPod.

[nicknack171]

hey do you know how to change the color of your ipod in itunes? i found a completely working blue ipod that im painting but i don't want it to show us blue thanks

[Brennn10]

I am really not sure. There are a couple YouTube videos that show you how to get into the files of the ipod, and you can access different backgrounds. However, I do not know how to choose the one I want.

[dannydutton]

Can the old ipod harddrive be used a a compact flash card? My mini has a sad face and to recover my music I think I can take the hdd and use a CF reader to recover it.

[Gjdj3]

Well, a lot of the time the sad face is just because the hard drive has come a little bit loose from the cord that connects it. Try removing the cord all the way from the back, then putting it back in.

[dannydutton]

Wow. I didn't pay attention at all: -2. Missing half the music that is on my ipod on my comp -1. deleted backup I made of ipod before it was "sad" 0. Was too cheap to buy new ipod that could have saved my music 1. I accidently cut the input cable for the click wheel board trying to force it the wrong way with a knife. 2. I didn't test it at all after removing and inserting the hdd (did this before you told me) 3. While taking apart the hdd, I put the wrong screw back in half way thru the process and may have made the situation worse. (It may have cracked the platter that may have been fully functioning) 4. The hdd is sitting demolished 3ft away from me in a pile of metal and hdd parts from the ipod and a (non-functioning) RCA Lyra. wow. I totally ruined a situation that could have been fixed easily. Oh well, I was going to get an ipod touch 8gb anyway.

[Robeast]

I've got a broken 30g Zune. i'd like to put the 30 gigs to use as an external hard drive (besides the patch). Keeping the Zune software or previous data is not important to me. Any suggestions?

[Yerboogieman]

whats wrong with it?

[Brennn10]

Try this, the first result might be of use.

http://www.google.com/search?q=make+an+external+harddrive&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

[Robeast]

Yes, i have considered this, but would I need to reformat the 30 gig hard drive to get rid of all of the Zune software? If so, how can I do this?

[krishnaiyerrox]

my compact flash is connected to my mp3 player it isn't an i pod it is manufactured by a company called mpio {www.mpio.com} my model number is hd200 i replaced the st1 drive wid a cf card but my mp3 player firmware got destroyed in the process the mpio utility provided by the manufacturer does not detect my mp3 player {although windows and Linux do so as an external mass storage drive} this is why my mp3 player works only as a thumb drive and does not play any music as a standalone player sumone plz help me out and tell me what to do please help me out

[xmychemicalromancerx]

you must have lost the files neccesary for your computer to sense it. You should be able to turn on your mp3 and go to settings. it should say something like 'restore original settings' or something similar. it should restore all the files neccesary for the computer to sense it; however you will need to replace the music that was on it before.

[MumblingTuna]

I want to know how to make a nano into a video. heh.

[Rubber Binder]

iPod Linux

[sniper99]

i got the third generation nano in october and it rocks!!!!